Does anyone on here use this dust collector. I was pretty much sold on the 2 hp model but my space is very limited (half of a two car garage) and was thinking that the 2hp would take up some floor space. I will only be using one tool at a time and don’t mind changing the hose from one machine to the next.

Am I wasting my time with this? I am just trying to weigh all the options on DC’s before I pull the trigger…..... Even thought about trying to do it with my shop vac and using the dust deputy

-- still wet behind the ears.....

22 replies so far

I don’t have one…yet…but if you do search for HF dust collector here in LJ you will find that a lot of people have it and they for the most part will say that it is the best value DC you can get. However might i urge you to make sure you replace the bag with a canister as i think it comes with a 5 micron bag and that is not quite good enough for healthy working. But yes from what i have heard and read it is a very good DC.

-- If you can't fix it with a hammer, You've got an electrical problem.

If you are reffering to the small horizontal/portable one, yes I have this one. I put mine in a outsiide cabinet with exhaust just blowing out a dryer vent( no bag). There is only 10 feet of inside 4” duct, so it workes well for a single machine running. I still use a shop vac for smaller tools like handheld router and miter saw. Works well and would recommend with the above mentioned install. Hope this helps.

This is the only pic I can find of the one I had. I had the hose going to a trash can with a separator lid. The can caught the chunks and the dust went into the bag. I would take the bag off, go in the back yard and turn it inside out and shake it to clean it.

This is the red harbor freight 1 h.p. It does work better than nothing, but hang on to your broom and dust pan.It’s not all that good. I believe the specs are over inflated.

I had a little over $150 in the whole deal buying everything new. Save your money and get a real dust collector.

I bought the red 1 hp HF collector to build into the base of the router table I’m designing.I got it for $50 with a coupon and on sale so my choice was this or a cheap shop vacuum.I did not realize it had a universal motor (with brushes like a shop vac) till I got it, or I would have gone for the vacuum. Havent used it yet other than to turn it on an make sure it was not dead. Noisy as a vacuum.

I have the 2 hp HF collector for my other major power tools and it does a wonderful job.If you can possibly make the room, the 2 hp is way more than twice as much machine.

-- Michael: Hillary has a long list of accomplishments, though most DAs would refer to them as felonies.

Stephenw – Saw your video, and I am sold! My Ridgid shop Vac that I have hooked up to my Onieda makes at least three times as much noise as the HF collector. Gonna go get me a Christmas present, and connect it to the Onieda.

Just as a note, there are two different ~1hp HF dust collectors. The red one with the universal motor, and an olive drab one which runs off an induction motor – I’ve got that one. I’m still running it into a 5-micron bag, but I’m also mainly using it for chip collection off my planer that this point via a trashcan lid separator – shopvac + dust deputy is handling all of the actual fine dust.

I’ve got the parts I need (minus the canister filter) to add a Thien separator to turn it into a baby 2-stage unit. One of my “coming soon” projects…